In our experience, there are 3 common reasons why companies are reluctant to take the leap from in-house to contract cleaning. You may have even given one or these responses yourself:

1. CONTRACT CLEANING IS TOO EXPENSIVE!If you currently have more than 2 hours of cleaning per day, then you might be surprised to find that contract cleaning could be a cost-effective solution for you. When comparing costs, it is worth considering that an in-house cleaner will require you to pay for sick cover, holiday cover, maternity leave and National Insurance. Over time, these add up. Outsourcing to a contract cleaning provider will also result in no more last-minute searches for a cover-cleaner or worse still, having to carry out the cleaning yourself when you have so many other jobs to get on with.

Taking away the hassle of managing staff and dealing with time-consuming personnel issues, has the knock-on effect of reducing your costs and enabling your company to run more efficiently. In addition, a large cleaning contractor is likely to benefit from buying chemicals and equipment in bulk. Any good supplier will usually pass these savings onto their customers – another cost reduction for you.

2. HAPPY WITH MY CLEANER AND DON’T WANT TO CHANGEIf you currently employ a cleaner who is providing a good service, it is very simple for the cleaning company to take over as employer. At Plains Services, we are always keen to hire cleaners who have been recommended to us and in certain circumstances, the current TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment) law will require us to do just that. This law also states that the cleaning staff must be hired under the same pay and terms and conditions.

3. DON’T WANT TO BE TIED INTO A CONTRACT There are a lot of initial overheads involved in taking on a new site: equipment; training; advertising of staff; time etc. Of course, there is likely to be a contract but this has its advantages to you as the customer – a promise of what the cleaning company will commit to providing, written down and signed by both parties.

In this industry, contracts tend to have a duration of between 1 and 3 years, sometimes longer; at Plains Services, we work on a 12-month initial term. In addition, you should find that any decent cleaning provider will have an exit clause for poor performance, protecting you as the customer.

Making a change to the familiar is always a daunting prospect but hopefully this has helped you to better understand the advantages to contract cleaning and the benefits that this service could make to your company.

​​Contact Plains Services for your free on-site assessment

We would love to quote for your cleaning. It costs nothing and at the very least will allow you to see if you’re getting value for money. We will visit you and put together a full quotation document including references, cleaning schedule, insurance details, risk assessments and a breakdown of cost.

If you would like to discuss your requirements further, please call us on 0115 9638401 or complete our online enquiry form. ​